Behind the Mask
by Inferno2572
Summary: Ladybug and Chat Noir have been partners for what seems like forever. But that doesn't mean that Chat has yet worked up the courage to ask her out and present his true feelings. Can Chat man up in time before his lady falls for another? Or will his suffering be in vain, as he is forced to sit back and watch his lady be taken away from him in more than just one way...
1. If only

Chapter 1: If only

'Argh!' Marinette yelled as she fell backwards into her bed, throwing her phone down onto her pillow for the fourth time in the past five minutes. 'Where is she?'

Marinette had arranged to go and meet Alya today at the park, but she wasn't answering her phone! Marinette didn't know what to think. Still though, she gave her a little leeway. She was her best friend after all.

She climbed down her ladder and continued working on a design for a winter coat for Mr. Agreste's next design contest.

As she was working, a cold wind blew her window open, and cold air filled her room. Rubbing her arms for warmth, she ran over to the window to close it.

Just as she was closing it, Marinette heard a scream from roughly two blocks down. She pulled up the newscast on my phone to see an akumatised victim rampaging through the streets of Paris.

She sighed. 'Of course! Alya would be near the akuma waiting for Ladybug to show up. There's no way she was gonna miss a scoop like this...' She thought aloud.

She opened the purse lying on her desk and her spotted, red and black kwami companion flew out and hovered before her face.

'Looks like it's time to go! Tikki, spots on!'

Tikki flew up and dematerialised in order to fly into her earrings. Marinette was immediately engulfed in a pink light and the transformation process began.

Upon its completion, Marinette stretched her arms and flung her yoyo out of the window. Once more, she was off to save the day.

—-

'Pound it!'

Another akuma freed from evil. Another victim saved from Hawkmoth. Another risk to their identity taken.

It was a never ending loop for Chat. It seemed almost as though it was becoming a routine. But he didn't mind. After all, with his Lady, there was no need for a different routine. She made him feel something new everyday.

Chat couldn't help but feel as though he was fated to become partners with her. He was fated to fall unfairly in love with her.

Sure, Ladybug brushed off all of his flimsy attempts at flirting, and passed him off as a playboy simply trying to win her over for personal gain. But he wasn't. And today was finally the day he was going to tell her just how serious he was about his feeling towards her.

He was brought back to reality when Ladybug's earrings began to beep.

He blinked twice as he took in the situation. He shook his head and looked forwards once more, just to be met with those big, beautiful bluebell eyes of hers. He began to feel a blush coming on when he noticed just how close their lips were.

There was an awkward moment of silence as he tried to hide his reddening cheeks, before Ladybug burst out laughing.

'W-what is it my Lady?' Asked Chat worriedly, his blush still present on his face.

'The great Chat Noir, blushing?' She continued to collapse into her fit of laughter. 'I can't believe you!' Chat's blush got deeper and deeper with each word, and he hated it. He hated that his lady could do that to him, but not the other way round. He couldn't help but wish that it was her blushing and not him.

Awkwardly, Chat began to half-heartedly chuckle with her, trying to calm his blush. Within moments, however, he was blushing even deeper than before, once he realised how cute she looked when she was laughing. He sighed to himself. 'If only... If only I could tell her how I really feel...' He muttered, unheard over Ladybug's uncontrollable laughter.

He gave one last shot at cooling himself down, and spoke quickly. You know, you might wanna go now, you've only got one spot left, and you don't want me to find out your identity. That would be a cat-astrophe.' He smirked at her. Quickly, her laughter stopped and her eyes went wide as she realised what he meant. She quickly thanked him and flung her yoyo off and to the east of the city.

Chat sighed once more before taking his leave, springing back across the now dark city.

—-

 **A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed, favourited and followed my other story, 'Broken'. I know it's been a while since I posted but hey, life happened. Anyway thanks for reading, and be sure to leave a review telling me what you think! Thanks again,**

 **Inferno**


	2. Behind the mask

Chapter 2: Behind the mask

Chat Noir landed once more in his luxurious room and transformed back into Adrien.

He walked over to his bed and fell flat on his face.

'I can't believe I didn't say it! Today was meant to be the day, Plagg!' he cried out to his tiny black cat kwami, who was currently in search of camembert.

'Honestly, you humans and your emotions. Why don't you just stick with cheese? It's so much simpler.' he mumbled through bites of his recently found delicacy.

Adrien sighed again and walked over to his desk, housing a triple-screen computer and numerous glittery pencils, all given to him by his flamboyant fitter, Valentin, who was very complimentary of his skills as a model.

Slowly, as though it were a thing of great delicacy, Adrien opened one of his drawers and took out what looked like a pink Valentine heart. He opened it to reveal a message.

Steadily, Adrien read the message over a few times in his head, letting every word of it sink in, one by one, until he was satisfied.

Very often, Adrien would look at this card to give himself courage, and to allow him to feel loved for who he really was, not who the media made him out to be.

Still, he struggled day and night to try and figure out who could have sent him this card. He liked to believe that this card was from Ladybug, but always arrived at the eventual result of it being nothing but wishful thinking.

After reading the card one more time, he delicately put it back into its place and closed the drawer.

He sighed and flopped backwards onto his bed, but a small smile made its way onto his face soon. _'Someday, someday I will make Ladybug fall for me, and maybe then she will allow me to know her true identity, behind the mask.'_ Adrien continued to think about it until he eventually drifted off to sleep, and floated away into his mystical dreamland...

Ladybug landed softly on her cushioned mattress below the trapdoor in the roof of the bakery.

Upon landing, she de-transformed and slid easily and gracefully down her ladder.

She ran over to her chair and set back to work on designing her dress for the upcoming Agreste contest.

After about an hour and a half of strenuous work, she stopped and breathed a sigh of relief. She held up the piece and examined it once more. The dress was an elegant one. It was a long, slick piece with an open back and sides, leaving little to the imagination. The dress snaked its way up and around the neck with a collar piece at the very top of the design in order to keep the dress from falling off. Marinette blushed at the very thought of it. Still, she shook the ideas from her mind and continued examining her work. Marinette had added two long, elegant gloves that stretched from the finger to the upper arm, and a thin belt was around the waist in order to accentuate the figure of the wearer. Marinette was almost satisfied with her design, and was about to set to work on stitching it when she realised that she had made the dress red with black spots.

She freaked out, letting out a gasp and calling 'Tikki!' whilst nearly falling off of her chair.

Tikki flew out of her purse and asked her what was wrong.

'I've coloured this dress according to Ladybug's colour scheme without realising! What if someone finds out I'm Ladybug because of this?' cried Marinette.

There was a moment of silence in which Tikki tried to hold in her laughter, until she couldn't bear it anymore, and erupted into a fit of tiny, squeaky giggles.

'What are you on about, Marinette? Nobody's going to think that you're Ladybug because of a dress you made! There are plenty of fashion lines based on your colour scheme! It's not unusual!' replied Tikki between laughs.

Marinette sighed and face-palmed, dragging her hand down her face in embarrassment. _'Of course there are other lines of clothing with that colour scheme. Ladybug is a famous super heroine for crying out loud!'_ She thought to herself.

After about half an hour of procrastination, Marinette finally set to work on making the dress, using her mannequin to model the dress and make measurements according to her own body. After all, someone had to model this thing.

Once it was done, Marinette admired her handiwork. It was all that she had imagined it to be and more! She tried the dress on and looked at herself in the mirror. _'All I'm missing is the mask...'_ she thought to herself, before quickly pushing the thought from her mind. She looked enough like Ladybug already, she couldn't risk anything more than she already had. She carefully put the dress back onto the mannequin, before checking the time. Upon seeing that it was now 12:30 at night (or morning, depending on your perception), she started to head up to her bed, before hearing a knock on her window. She groggily looked up between half-closed eyes to see a familiar feline friend knocking at her window with a dashing grin spread across his face. She lazily trundled over to the window, tripping over her own feet and calling Chat some unpleasant names that shall not be mentioned here. She opened the window and told him to shoo.

'It's half twelve, Chat. I need my sleep...' she mumbled, straining to keep her eyes open.

'Please, Marinette. I just need some advice and then I'll be gone! I swear no my cat's honour!' he pleaded.

Marinette was taken aback. _'Chat Noir needs advice? He needs advice from me?'_ she thought whilst rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

After thinking for a moment or three, Marinette decided that there was little harm to be done, and let him in. Chat's grin widened as he bounded into her room.

'Now, what is it you want, Chat?' muttered Marinette.

'Well, you see... There's this girl...'

'Ladybug.' interrupted Marinette bluntly, a bored tone to her voice.

Now it was Chat's turn to be taken aback. He knew that he flirted with her a lot as Chat Noir, but did he really make it that obvious? Even Marinette knew his feelings... Did Ladybug know? Is that why she always played him off as some idiotic playboy? Did she have someone else? Was it too late?

Suddenly, he looked up to see Marinette about to collapse from holding in her laugh. Her face began to turn red before she finally let it out, bawling all over the floor, rolling around clutching her stomach. 'Your...' she tried to say between her fit, 'Your face!' she continued to laugh, before calming down and wiping the tears from her eyes.

Chat took a moment, letting it sink in, before it hit him. She was joking. She too thought that Chat was nothing but a playboy, and she got the best of him! Chat began to blush rapidly. Not only did he feel vulnerable now, he also felt defeated. Then, he realised something. Marinette looked adorable when she laughed. Like... Like Ladybug... _'No, I can't think like that. I can't try to find the similarities in every girl I see. Otherwise, I'll end up as an emotional wreck!'_ Chat took a mental breath before chuckling slightly as well.

'Well, I think you've told me all I need to know. Guess I'll be off now. Sleep well, _Purr-incess._ ' he called as he jumped back out of the window with a wink.

Marinette pulled herself back up off the floor and shook her head as she watched him leave. She climbed back up into bed and lay there. _'Maybe one day, one day I'll find out what Chat is like. Behind the mask.'_ those were her last thoughts before drifting out of consciousness and falling down into dreamland...

 **A/N: Thanks a bunch for reading all! The reviews kept me alive! I know, I know. I should have posted Broken Ch. 2 today, but I'll do it soon, I promise!** ** _(Please don't hurt me)_** **. Anyhoo hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I'll see you next time!**

 **Inferno**


	3. Cute

Chapter 3: Cute

Adrien and Marinette arrived at school at the same time, both groggily rubbing their half-closed eyes in a failed attempt to wake themselves up properly.

Marinette had been in such a hurry to get ready for school that morning that she hadn't had time to put her hair into her standard pigtails, and so had her hair gracefully flowing down her back to just below her shoulders. She still had a small area on top however that wouldn't go down, no matter how much Marinette tried. Bad hair days weren't fun.

Adrien had a similar issue, his hair more like Chats than Adriens; a rough, mop-like mess practically piled on top of his head. He trundled over to the steps leading up to the school where he tripped and began to fall, hitting his head square-on with a certain blue-haired friend of his.

'OW! What did you do that...' Marinette cried, before realising who it was. She quickly tried to make a recovery. 'I-I-I mean, I err... Hi?'

Adrien rubbed his head as hard as he could, as though trying to rub out the pain. Well, he needed a wake-up call, looks like he just got one. He turned to see Marinette angrily rubbing her head also. He watched her, amused as she once more stumbled over her words. He had to admit, it was kind of cute. Like a childish cute. After about a full minute of Marinette continuing to stutter and fall over her own words, Adrien grinned and burst out laughing. Marinette looked at him anxiously with tearful eyes.

 _'Is he mocking me? Is he laughing at my idiotic behaviour? Does this mean I'll never have a chance with him? What if he thinks I'm just an outsider like Chloe does? What if... What if...'_ Marinette's train of thought was never ending. She came up with a billion solutions as to why Adrien was laughing at her and none of them were good. However, Adrien turned to her as he stopped laughing, wiping the tears from his eyes.

'I'm sorry Marinette. I didn't mean it in a bad way, it was just hilarious how cute you looked whilst bumbling over your words. I couldn't help myself.'

Marinette's face slowly erupted into a fit of red. There was a moment of silence, before Marinette quickly ran off and into the school without another word to him.

Plagg flew out of Adrien's pocket. 'Well that was weird...' He mumbled through bites of Camembert.

'I know...' Muttered Adrien whilst trying to disguise his Kwami friend. Quickly, he pushed Plagg back into his pocket with much difficulty, and walked into school just in time for the bell.

At lunch, Marinette headed straight for her locker. She had to get out of here before Adrien saw her, otherwise she would turn red as a tomato once more and run for the hills with no good explanation (not one she could give to _him_ anyways). She decided it was best if she got back to the bakery before anyone saw her.

'Hey Marinette where are you headed in such a hurry?'

 _'Oh great',_ thought Marinette. _'Now I'm really done for.'_

She looked up, expecting to see Adrien, but instead locked eyes with a medium-height, red-haired boy with hair covering one eye. He had what looked like a genuine smile seemingly plastered on his face.

Marinette thought back to the battle with the Evillustrator, Nathanaël's akumatised alter ego. He seemed to bear the same smile as he did back then when Marinette agreed to go to his party.

Marinette tried to make a quick recovery. 'Oh, uh, hi Nathanaël. Mind if I just squeeze past you real quick? I er... Promised I'd meet Alya, and I have to go... Now... Please?' Marinette squeaked, her confident approach quickly deteriorating.

'What was that, Marinette?' Asked Alya from behind.

 _'Brilliant.'_ Marinette quickly span around and smiled nervously at Alya. 'Oh, hey Alya! Don't you remember? The _thing_ we had to go and do? The _thing_ thing?'

Getting the message, Alya quickly tagged on. 'Oh yeah! I remember, the _THING_! How could I forget? Excuse me, Nathanaël, we need to go now. See you around!'

Both Marinette and Alya slowly walked out, smiling back at Nathanaël nervously before reaching the bottom and running as fast as possible away from the school. When Marinette was sure that they were out of the cold, she stopped and sat down on a bench, gasping for air.

After a short minute of breath intake, Alya turned to Marinette. 'Ok, now what was that?'

Marinette, too busy trying to regain breath, had already lost track of what just happened. 'The what?' She replied innocently.

Alya face palmed. 'Girl, you just made me run for about half a mile at full pelt for no good reason. Now go, explain.'

Marinette took one last intake of air before she began.

'Well... When walking to school this morning I bumped heads with Adrien and I started to stutter and he started to laugh and I thought he was mocking me and then he said I was cute and then I turned into a walking tomato and then I ran away and then I avoided him all this morning and then I wanted to get out of there before I became the human strawberry once more.' Marinette stopped for breath. 'And then I lied to Nathanaël about needing to meet you and then I got you to go along with it and then we ran away and now we're here.' She stopped abruptly and turned to Alya, grinning.

Alya just blinked at her a few times. Then a few times more. 'Girl, are you ok?' She asked, sounding genuinely concerned for her best friend's wellbeing.

Marinette simply sighed, and proceeded to retell the story with more detail and a lot less speed.

When she was finished, all Alya could say was 'What!?'

 **A/N: So yeah that was fun. Anyway, hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter. In reply to the guest comment on the previous chapter, yes, Chat is a very good kitty. Please, if you guys have any idea as to how you want this story to proceed, please PM me or leave it as a review, because although I have a rough idea of where I'm going with this, what's the point of it if my readers don't like it? Anyway, thanks again guys, I'll see you next time!**

 **Inferno**


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